Cable calls for Comet inquiry

The Business Department confirmed that Vince Cable has called an investigation into Comet in a bid to find out why the firm ended up going out of business and the circumstances around the purchase of the company by a private equity firm last year.

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Rob Donaldson, head of private equity at Baker Tilly has said that there is no one party to blame for the collapse of Comet, saying;

Was it doomed to fail from the start? Given the challenges this business faced, was the turnaround plan realistic? Revenues at this business were in free fall, margins were under pressure, lease obligations were onerous, did the turnaround plan have any real chance of success?

There are many architects of this failure. Kesa, Landlords, Credit Insurers, Management, Investors, Consumers. This is the reality of what happened here...there is no one party to blame.

With insufficient funds raised from the winding down of electrical chain Comet, it will fall to the Government's Redundancy Payments Service to meet £23.2 million of outstanding redundancy pay, accrued holiday pay and pay in lieu of notice.

Comet's last remaining stores will trade for a final time on Tuesday Credit: Andrew Parsons/PA Archive